Veteran business writer visits campus

Tim Smart, deputy assistant managing editor at U.S. News & World Report, will visit campus Oct. 21-25 as the fall semester business writer in residence. During the week, he will speak to journalism and business classes, consult with individual students and meet with local members of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Smart has long career as both an editor and reporter covering many major national and international business issues for a number of top publications. Currently, he helps edit the personal finance and business coverage at U.S. News. Prior to that, he directed personal finance coverage for the magazine’s “News You Can Use” section.

Smart joined U.S. News in 1999 after two years as a senior writer in the business section of the Washington Post. There, he covered corporate issues, management, economics, business strategy and the defense industry.

Prior to the Post, Smart worked at Business Week from 1987 to 1997, covering a variety of beats in Washington including business regulation, the Securities & Exchange Commission, and the Justice Department. He also was bureau chief for the magazine’s Connecticut office, which is responsible for covering such important companies as General Electric.

Smart has covered a variety of major stories, including the junk-bond scandal involving Michael Milken, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the space shuttle Challenger tragedy and the stock market boom of the late 1990s.

Smart’s journalism career began in Florida. After graduation from the University of Florida in 1979 he joined the reporting staff at the St. Petersburg Times. He then moved to the Miami Herald, where he spent four years as a business writer.

The Smart residency is part of the ongoing Business Writer in Residence program, sponsored by the School of Business, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and University Communications, with support from the UW Foundation.